A lot of people have no idea what art is. But nearly all of them think they do. They think entertainment is art. They think fine craftsmanship is art. They think pretty decorations are art. They think anything that is done well is art. They think anything that is clever is art. They think anything made in a certain medium is art. And when I try to explain to them why these are not art, but can all be used by artists to make real art, they get angry. They don't understand and they don't want to hear that they don't know something even though there is no reason why they would have known it,
And I can't do anything about this. People are stubborn and egotistical. And there are powerful forces in our society with an interest in keeping people ignorant.
The issue is I partly agree with you. I hate people ("artists") who do things just because they want to do something weird and go for this shock effect. Everyone, in my opinion, can do that, if they have no self-respect. Just do something extremely weird and play it off as if it has some greater meaning.
Where we differ is, that I don't see a clear indication of what allows me to say that what they are doing isn't art and therefore they are not artists. Besides my personal opinion that I don't like stuff like that. But it is obvious that others do find what they do interesting because in many cases these are considered famous artists.
And it is the same with that guy painting with paint buckets or that sketch from Damien, I can't really respect it. Im just not impressed by someone poking holes in a bucket and letting it swing over a canvas or a sketch that clearly took less than a minute to make and even looks like ****. And it is not because I don't like sketches, some of my favourite ones are sketches by Leonardo Da Vinci, they are absolutely insane.
We definitely agree that we don't consider everything to be art or at least to be treated with the attention it gets.
If it's man made, and not practically functional, you're in the right neighborhood.
But again, lots of art installations are created using computers etc. Sure there is human involvement, but that is also the case when the person pokes holes in a bucket or gets the idea to do it.
I have been defining it. But for some reason you're not listening. I heard a professor once say that, "art is a round trip ticket through another human beings life experience". And that pretty much sums it up.
You haven't defined it because you have expressed what is required for it to be art, and then I give you examples of things that fall within these requirements, yet you don't think those are art. Or you haven't explained how you determined whether a given form of expression is valid or not.
Again, I agree with you that certain art is bad, but if that is how the person wants to "express their experience" who am I to say that they are wrong?
There's nothing extremely vague about it. I have no problem understanding art or recognizing it when I see it. But I also have a lifetime of studying it, doing it, commiserating with other artists about it, and being of the general nature that is drawn to it.
Not to be disrespectful, but I doubt you have a lifetime of study behind you if you didn't know that Mona Lisa was made by Leonardo Da Vinci. It is one of the most famous pieces of art ever created.
But it is beyond the point, again it is more about you claiming that you can spot what is art and what isn't, and clearly, I or anyone that disagrees with you cannot. You have a lot of self-confidence, I'll give you that, but you will have a very difficult time convincing me that is the case, in fact, anyone would have, unless they can provide a valid argument for it.